(Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions)
PHOENIX – Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is going upscale, getting bigger, both in weight and pound-for-pound clout. But not much else has changed.
Plans and place are the same for a so-called little guy with global ambitions.
Naoya Inoue, Japan’s Rising Son and still on a mission to prove that nobody at any weight is better, is still the target.
“I think that fight is inevitable,’’ Rodriguez said Thursday at a Central Boxing gym crowded with fans who withstood triple-figure temperatures just for the chance at an autograph.
For at least a couple of years, the Rodriguez-Inoue possibility has been there, a dream fight that now has a realistic chance at happening.
Even Inoue mentioned it amid all the hype surrounding his victory over Junto Nakatani in front of a crowd of 55,000 at Tokyo Dome on May 2.
A lot still has to happen, including a Rodriguez victory over World Boxing Association secondary champion Antonio Vargas on June 13 in his bantamweight debut at Desert Diamond Arena in nearby Glendale.
“Win here, and I’ll move on for good from 115 pounds,’’ said Rodriguez, who has the WBC, WBO and WBA super-flyweight belts
Long-term, the Vargas fight is seen as one more step toward Inoue, who has been campaigning at junior-featherweight (122 pounds) and has said he’d also be interested in moving to featherweight.
For Inoue, the most significant factor, however, looks to be age more than weight. He’s 33. The little guys tend to have shorter careers than fighters at heavier weights. Translation: The clock is ticking on how much longer Inoue will be in his prime.
That’s one reason why there’s increased talk about Rodriguez-Inoue sometime in 2027. A past-due date looms for perhaps the biggest fight ever between two little guys.
First, however, there are inevitable moves upscale for the 26-year-old Rodriguez, who said Thursday he was at about 135 pounds. Vargas is an initial test after Rodriguez’ dominant title runs at flyweight and super-fly.
Then, perhaps, he’ll go after a bantamweight title. The WBO belt held by Christian “Spark” Medina is one possibility.
So too, however, is an immediate jump to 122 pounds.
Rodriguez trainer Robert Garcia previewed the possibilities during the Thursday stop in Phoenix at an old-school, classic gym with a history that includes Mike Tyson and a young David Benavidez.
Central is a boxing crossroads, a perfect place for…
2026-05-15 12:38:15
